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The Water Rights Protection Act is bad for rivers - Take Action!

Colorado - In Late September, Representatives Scott Tipton and Jared Polis introduced H.R. 3189
with the intent of resolving the conflicts between the US Forest Service and the Ski Industry
over proposed water rights conditions being applied to ski area permits. A related bill has been
intriduced into the Senate (S. 1630), by Sen. Barasso of Wyoming. The bills are written broadly
and in our view have serious implications for water management across the country, and undermine
all efforts to protect or restore our nations rivers and public lands. American Whitewater asks
that you Take Action today by contacting the key decision-makers listed below, and make your
opinions heard.

In our assessment, the Water Rights Protection Act will impede the Departments of Agriculture and
Interior's statutory missions to provide for multiple uses, including recreation, under the
Organic Administration Act and Multiple Use Sustained Yield Act (MUSYA). The act will
preclude releases from dams and reservoirs and bypass flows for endangered fish recovery
programs, both of which are important to river health, provide paddling opportunities, and
support a robust recreation economy across the entire country.

HR 3189 is a sneak attack designed to force federal agencies to put private uses of river
water ahead of other beneficial public uses like fish, wildlife, and recreation. While
the bill was ostensibly intended to address a narrow water rights conflict between Colorado's
ski industry and the U.S. Forest Service, other interests – primarily big western
agriculture, worked with these offices to draft a much more expansive bill that would handcuff
the Departments of Interior and Agriculture and prevent them from protecting rivers and public
lands. The bill would prevent the Federal Government from conditioning any license, permit,
or other approval of water use in such a manner as to “impair” any privately held
water right. Incredibly, the House Natural Resources Committee chose to hold a hearing on the
bill during the government shutdown. As a result, if the Committee marks up the bill this week,
it will do so without the benefit of expert testimony from the impacted agencies, and Members of
the Committee will be denied the opportunity to question witness from the Departments of the
Interior and Agriculture about the effects this bill will have on their districts.

The bill would prohibit agencies from protecting rivers and public lands. The
so-called “Water Rights Protection Act” has broad and overreaching implications for
water management that extend far beyond Colorado's Ski Industry. It would gut any federal
law, such as the Endangered Species Act, that permits agencies to place conditions on permits or
licenses that would keep water in rivers to support fish, wildlife, or instream recreation. It
would also preempt state laws that allow Federal agencies to impose similar conditions. For
instance, this could prohibit the Forest Service from requiring water diverters to leave some
water in a stream on Forest Service land, or stop the Fish and Wildlife Service from requiring
flows that attract fish to fish ladders so that they can safely pass over dams.

The so-called “Water Rights Protection Act” would allow private water users
across the country to dry up rivers with impunity. H.R. 3189 represents an unduly broad
and unnecessary attempt to tie the hands of Federal agencies to provide flexible water management
options on our public lands If passed, the bill would prevent federal agencies from implementing
reasonable safeguards to protect fish, wildlife, and recreational benefits in the nation’s
rivers. Federal agencies would be unable to require the recipients of federal permits to keep
water in rivers for aquatic species and recreation, protect water quality, or ensure safe and
effective fish passage.

HR 3189 has been sent to the House
Natural Resources sub-committee on Water and Power, which will decide whether the bill goes
to the full House for a vote. Representative Tom McClintock (R) of California is the
chairman of this commmittee. American Whitewater urges you to voice your opinions on HR 3189 -
TODAY!